Happy New Year from Dean Collins!

As we close this year and step into the next, we are encouraged to trust in God’s unchanging presence, knowing that He will continue to bring comfort, joy, and purpose as we serve Him and others in the coming year.

Eternal life is not just a future promise; it is something we can experience now as we live and love like Jesus, with the confidence that both we and our departed loved ones are alive in Christ.

God’s love and grace are abundant, freely given to us from the fullness of Christ, but they are not meant to be hoarded; instead, we are called to pour out grace and share the light of Christ with those around us.

While calendars and schedules help us manage our lives, they can also distract us from the deeper purpose of Advent and Christmas—to encounter the presence of Jesus in a meaningful way.

While the physical celebrations of Christmas come to an end, the spiritual work of Christ—His finished sacrifice and the ongoing transformation He brings—continues in our lives and hearts.

Merry Christmas from Dean Collins!

In Luke 2, we read that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manager. Consider this for a moment. God  chose to put on skin and be bound in swaddling clothes.

One of the songs I led was the quirky hit “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, which became a bridge to deeper worship, connecting silly joy with reverent praise.

This Christmas, we are invited to answer Jesus’ prayer by striving for unity in the body of Christ, letting our love and oneness make His presence visible to the world around us.

When the twins returned, Alice discovered Jesus under the couch, illustrating how, like in life, sometimes we need to seek God intentionally to rediscover His presence.

While scholars have written volumes about the incarnation, my grandson’s enthusiasm for the coming of Jesus brought me back to the essence of Christmas—celebrating the Savior’s birth with simple, childlike joy.

Advent calls us to reflect on God’s faithfulness, just as David reflected on God’s deliverance, and to remember that the reason we wake each day is because God sustains us.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and await His return, we can relate to the Israelites’ longing for deliverance and the sense of waiting that often makes our hope feel distant, yet we know Jesus will return to restore all things.

After discovering my grandchildren's playful rearranging of nativity figures, I reflected on how even small disruptions can remind us of the enduring presence of Jesus in our lives.

As we celebrate Christmas, we are called to focus on God’s incredible love for us, remaining vigilant in guarding against false teachings while proclaiming His truth through our actions and words.

Though we might imagine the angels singing, the Bible tells us they were declaring God's glory and peace, a message we are called to repeat with our words and actions.

In the midst of Christmas traditions like writing letters to Santa, we are reminded that prayer is not a wish list but a deep connection with our Creator, as taught by Jesus.

Amid the busyness of December, both children and adults struggle to find stillness, but Advent invites us to slow down and prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christ's birth.

Jesus was fully aware that His message of love and truth would not be embraced by all, and this rejection still echoes in the world today.